After Australia’s Hanukkah massacre, critics say appeasing extremists after Oct 7 fueled rising antisemitism

Sunday s deadly terrorist attack on Australian Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Sydney was something the country s small but historic population had feared since a wave of antisemitic incidents began following Hamas Oct massacre in Israel While the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the attack calling it a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah his critics say his Labor cabinet has failed to appropriately respond to the alarming rise in antisemitic incidents across the country Avi Yemini of Rebel News Australia who has been documenting the attacks against the neighborhood described Fox News Digital that just days after Hamas Oct attack mobs of Islamic extremists were already openly hunting Jews here in Australia chanting where s the Jews outside the Sydney Opera House Since then synagogues and childcare centers have been firebombed and repeated warnings ignored With no meaningful cabinet action to confront the matter tonight s horrific attack in Bondi was tragically inevitable and is unlikely to be the last ISRAELI AUTHORITIES HEAP BLAME ON AUSTRALIAN ESTABLISHMENT AFTER BONDI BEACH SHOOTING 'COUNTLESS WARNING SIGNS'He declared The Australian Labor executive has been unwilling to act decisively in part because of its political reliance on Islamic area votes As a upshot plenty of Australian Jews are now facing a devastating wake-up call that this country is no longer as safe for us as it once was I believe a multitude of will now be seriously considering a move to Israel AUSTRALIA'S JEWISH GROUP ALARMED BY RISING ANTISEMITISM 'FEAR AND ANXIETY'Adding to the anger Australia s Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faced criticism for failing to note in an earlier announcement posted on X that the deadly attack was directed at Jewish Australians Following the attack a reporter confronted Albanese with concerns about his leadership s response to antisemitism citing his governing body s recognition of a Palestinian state Labor ministers attacking the Israeli executive and refusing to visit the sites of the Oct massacres and the simultaneous appointment of special envoys for Islamophobia and antisemitism The reporter appealed Albanese whether his establishment had taken antisemitism seriously ANTISEMITIC ATTACKERS VIOLENTLY TARGET SYNAGOGUE ISRAELI RESTAURANT IN AUSTRALIA Yes we have taken it seriously Albanese replied And we ve continued to act We ve continued to work with Jewish area leaders We ve continued to take all the advice from the defense agencies to put in place special measures and we will continue to do so Albanese s press office did not respond to Fox News Digital s request for comment about frustrations regarding the prime minister s response to the mass shooting attack The Executive Council of Australian Jewry ECAJ in recent times documented anti-Jewish incidents across Australia between Oct and Sept in addition to incidents nationwide the year before It also noted that antisemitic incidents in Australia remain at historically high levels at almost five times the average annual number before Oct While there has been a marginal reduction from last year s all-time high the majority of serious categories of incidents including arson attacks against synagogues pre schools and other Jewish institutions are higher than in any previous year on record Several of the more shocking incidents to hit Australia s Jewish group since Oct up until Sunday's terror attack include Masked individuals setting a fire in Ripponlea s Adass Israel Synagogue while congregants mentioned morning prayers The fire caused widespread damage and injured one worshipper AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE WORKERS THREATEN ISRAELI MAN CLAIM TO HAVE KILLED JEWS IN THEIR CARE ON CAMERASydney s Allawah Synagogue was tagged with swastika graffiti The following day the Newtown Synagogue also in Sydney was similarly defaced The week prior a car in Sydney had been spray-painted with an antisemitic phrase Major property damage was inflicted on a childcare center near a Jewish school and synagogue in Sydney during an arson attack Antisemitic graffiti was detected inside A car was set on fire in a Jewish region in Sydney and as numerous as seven homes in the area were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti Two healthcare workers in Sydney speaking on the social platform Chatrouletka with an Israeli man noted that they would refuse restoration to Israeli patients and had previously killed Israeli patients Gideon Sa ar the foreign minister of Israel expressed his sorrow to his Australian counterpart Penny Wong by phone On X on Sunday Sa ar stated that he advised Australia s foreign minister that assurance for the Jewish group in Australia will be achieved only through a real change in the population atmosphere Calls such as Globalize the Intifada From the River to the Sea Palestine Will be Free and Death to the IDF are not legitimate are not part of freedom of speech and inevitably lead to what we witnessed at present The Australian executive must take strong action against the use of these antisemitic calls Populist Australian Sen Pauline Hanson commented on X that Albanese never heeded the warning signs including the weekly antisemitic protests across our nation hate speech from certain religious clerics our obnoxious universities and probable terrorist alert Hanson reported the Jewish population in Australia has the same right to live in peace and harmony as all Australians and called on government to be honest when revealing the identities and backgrounds of these murderers The Associated Press contributed to this assessment